Allergic to Mistletoe
by C.D.Meiss
Summary: In essence, Axel Schraeder hates Christmas. Can Roxas' out-of-town cousin and her best friend change that? Oneshot. T because I'm paranoid.


**Disclaimer:** I hold no rights to the Kingdom Hearts or Final Fantasy games, nor do I own Ari. She would hate that.

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Allergic to Mistletoe

It was Christmastime in the Schraeder household, and Axel really just wanted to die.

Ever since he was young, he had harbored an acute dislike for the cheery season. It was too cold, people got crazy, and it snowed. A lot. Yeah it was cool to see his friends and relatives but what else was there to do? Eat cookies he was allergic to? Buy stuff people would throw away in a few days? Yeah. Real fun.

As he lazed about on the couch while his mom sobbed over onions in the kitchen-what kind of tradition is it to have French onion soup on Christmas anyway?-his phone buzzed on the pillow by his leg. It was Roxas, calling to ask what time he was supposed to come over. Axel yelled to his mom and she responded with a shrill "Whenever!"

Before he hung up on his friend, Axel caught the trails of "...bringing my cousins..." Axel sighed, rolled off the couch, dragged himself to the window, and sat on the cushion as he waited for his friends.

Roxas would obviously bring his annoying twin Sora, who would bring his girlfriend Kairi, who would bring her friend Namine. Or some other friend. Kairi never went anywhere without a friend, or Sora. Most times it was both. Needless to say, the red head was a little interested to meet Roxas' cousin. New faces were always interesting. It was a good thing it was only him and his stupid older brother Reno in the house today, because otherwise his mum would kill him for having that many people over.

It started to snow.

Bored, Axel began tracing abstract lines into the frosted window pane. Just as he realized that the flame-like squiggles on the glass made the house across the street look like it was on fire, his best friend's big ugly truck drove up and almost hit the snow pile in the front yard. Axel grinned and opened the front door. "GET IN HERE MORONS." he shouted.

They all piled out and tramped up the icy front walk, and soon they were in his house. Shuffling, mumbling, and sniffling like a pack of deranged penguins they shed their coats and exclaimed how glad they were to see him and Merry Christmas and all that. Kairi and Namine immediately disappeared into the kitchen to greet Mrs. Schraeder and ask to help prepare the Christmas Eve and Roxas went into the living room to set up some "epic" board game they'd brought, and Axel was left standing awkwardly in the entryway with two girls he had never met.

"Uh...ROX?"

There was a scrambling sound and Roxas whipped out of the living room, smiling sheepishly. "Whoops, I forgot. This is my cousin Ari-" he pointed to the terrified looking blonde, "and her friend Dulcie." he nodded to a brunette who looked almost as bored as Axel himself. "They're uh...from out of state." Roxas shrugged and dashed into the living room once again.

"So..." Dulcie said, looking Axel over with an unimpressed expression. After studying his dusty green tee shirt and fiery hair, she stonily looked him in the eye. "You look like a Christmas tree on fire."

"Nice to meet you too," Axel retorted defensively.

"Pleased to meet you!" Ari squeaked with a shaky smile, trying to be nice for her friend's sake.

Axel paused with a raised eyebrow but nodded in her direction. "Nice to meet you. And Merry Christmas." he added, surprising himself. The three of them were spared further awkward conversation by Sora shouting that the game was set up and that everybody should get their butts into the living room or they would start without them.

The four girls and three boys were settled semi-comfortably around a game of Life when they heard a stomping down the hall. A redhead very similar to Axel walked in.

"What are you doing?" Axel asked caustically.

"Mom told me to 'go play with the kids'. Here I am." the older Schraeder boy spread his arms wide with a shrug.

"Sit down then, we're about to start!" Sora exclaimed, picking up his little blue car. "Since there are only six vans, me and Kai are gonna be together and you and..." the brunette scanned his friends quickly and landed on Dulcie, who was tattooing her hand with a sharpie. "Dulcie!"

Her head jerked up and Axel sniggered. "What?"

"You and Reno are gonna be partners and stuff, kay?"

"Who?"

Reno threw his arms over his head as he sat down. "Me, lady! Geez!" By her friend's side, Ari giggled.

Following some weird whim that struck him, Axel said, "Nah...let me and Ari be partners. I have a feeling those two would strangle each other." he tapped his lip with his phone. "Or spontaneously make out. Either way, it wouldn't be pretty."

Dulcie and Reno sat in shocked and angry silence as the others roared with laughter. Ari smiled lightly, blushing as she obeyed Axel's bid for her to sit by him. They ended up putting a little blue person and a pink person in a red van, and after Namine and Roxas bickered quietly over who went first, the game began.

* * *

Several hours later, Sora and Kairi finally won.

The group had had to take a fair amount of breaks to eat dinner and socialize with the random Schraeder family members that stopped by, delaying the end of the game. After Reno and Axel saved Ari and Dulcie from their creepy older cousin Vincent, Roxas and Sora decided it was time for hot chocolate around the fire.

Axel immediately got up, saying he'd do it for fear of the twins burning down his mother's precious kitchen, and left the living room. Sora and Kairi took this time to cuddle themselves into one of the armchairs, while Roxas and Namine went outside for a bit to make snow angels in the dark.

As Dulcie pulled out the deck of cards she kept in her bag and challenged Reno to a game of garbage, Ari felt a little awkward. Thinking it would be a good idea to help Axel with the hot chocolate, she moved to go through the archway into the kitchen. Too bad she missed the plastic sprig of mistletoe hanging in it. And Axel coming out to ask who wanted marshmallows and who didn't.

Axel was more than a little shocked to feel a thin body crash right into him when he entered the living room doorway, but he didn't want whoever it was to fall, so he grabbed them by the shoulders. Looking down, his holly green eyes met a sky blue pair, and he realized it was Ari.

Being Roxas' cousin was interesting, but the way that the firelight caught the pale blonde strands of her hair was far better. She cleared her throat, a blush to match the season already blossoming on her cheeks. The redhead shook his head and helped her up. "Sorry about that, I didn't see you."

"It's fine." she whispered in return, straightening the hem of her sweater.

Axel was just about to keep walking when the front door opened for the eighty-seventh time that evening, letting in a blast of icy air. Roxas walked in holding Namine's hand and looked up with a grin. Axel saw the thought take root and decided that he had never hated Roxas Miller as much as he did right then.

"Ah ah ah~ you've gotta kiss her! You know the tradition, Axel!" he crooned, causing everyone else to face the blushing girl and seething boy.

"Roxas..." Axel growled, steam practically coming out his ears.

Ari started breathing quickly, and it was hard to keep her thoughts straight as Axel sighed and turned to her, whispering, "I'm sorry..." over the chants of "KISS! KISS! KISS!"

He tilted his head, keeping a firm grip on her shoulders, and gently pressed his lips against hers for no more than three seconds. He tasted like a chimney that only burned cinnamon sticks, and then he was gone, beating Roxas over the head with a candy cane as everyone else rolled on the floor laughing.

Or onto Reno's lap, in Dulcie's case.

Axel continued beating his friends while Ari ran and locked herself in the bathroom, beet red. Kairi and Namine chased after her to talk to her but only succeeded in having the door slammed in their faces.

Dulcie was rather surprised when she felt a pair of warm arms slip around her waist and hoist her back into a sitting position. Even more surprised when she realized that she didn't mind being held by Reno that way even though they'd met only hours ago, and the fact that he was resting his chin on her shoulder was kind of...nice.

Kairi beat sharply on the bathroom door. "Ari! Come out pleeease!"

No matter how they pleaded or begged, she wouldn't come out, citing that she was far too embarrassed and didn't want to get in trouble (whatever that meant). Exasperated, Kairi and Namine retreated into the warm living room.

After nearly fifteen minutes of relative silence, Ari felt it was safe to slip out and silently beg Dulcie-who hadn't been returning her furtive texts-to drive her back to Roxas' house. She opened the creaking door a tiny bit, saw that it was safe, and flung it all the way open-only to be greeted by Axel leaning against the hallway wall directly across from her.

"Eep!" she squeaked, blushing intensely and reaching for the door handle. The redhead darted over and grabbed her small hand, jerking her to him with a smile.

"I thought you'd never come out of there. It hurts me to know you like my bathroom better than myself." He grinned, failing miserably at acting like he was in pain.

"B-but...we just met..." Ari whispered, fearing that he was either some sort of weirdo womanizer or a guy who was secretly mad at her for kissing him, even though it wasn't her fault. He shocked her by snaking an arm around her shoulders and leaning back against the wall, bringing her with him.

"Eh, what does that matter? We've known each other for a few hours, and you're Roxas' cousin so you can't be _all_ that bad..." Ari had to smile; it should have sounded mean but he said it with an obviously complementary smirk that made her giggle. "AND, we've already kissed once, so I thought, why not do it again?"

A blush tore across her face at his blunt statement and he grinned toothily; she was just so darn cute. "B-But..." she whispered again, and he dug into his pocket, still holding her.

"I knew you'd protest a little but look!" he held the offending sprig of plastic plant over their heads. "Now you have to."

Well, that was that for Ari. Axel was too handsome, too witty, and too forward for her NOT to like him and he just tasted so good...she missed the heady flavour of cinnamon. So, tossing everything she ever said or learned or thought out the window, she kissed him back.

After a while—a long while—the pair reentered the living room, where someone had put the Yule Log on TV even though there was a real fire behind the grate.

Kairi and Sora had fallen asleep in their big arm chair, and Namine was laying on her stomach under the Christmas tree, drawing the little village as Roxas watched the train chug slowly around the base. When Axel looked for his brother however, he noticed that the idiot was missing.

"Where's Dulcie?" Ari asked, worried for her friend.

An idea surfaced in Axel's mind and he grinned, ushering the blonde to the window. Just as he thought, there were Dulcie and Reno, decidedly tangled together and leaning up against the porch railing. Feeling sort of prankster-ish, Axel ripped open the front door and shouted "HEY LOVEBIRDS! Wanna watch a Christmas movie?!"

Reno growled and pulled away from the brunette in front of him with reluctance. "Bug off, li'l bro. Can't you see we're busy?"

He made to lean back in, his bangs drifting into his eyes, but Dulcie smirked and grabbed his rather long ponytail, pulling him into the house. "Come on Las Vegas, let's go watch a movie."

Axel jumped out of the way, laughing with Ari as his brother shouted, "IT'S RENO!"

"Aw, but Las Vegas is so much more fun!"

"GRRRRR!"

"AHAHAHA STOP!"

Eventually they woke up Kairi and Sora and all eight of them jammed onto or around the couch in front of the tv, laughing and shoving.

Dulcie punched the oldest Schraeder boy in the arm as she settled against his chest, muttering, "Tickling should be illegal."

_This isn't terribl_e...Axel thought as he felt Ari's fingers thread through his. Gathered here with his family, friends, and more-than-a-friend, with the twinkling lights and the familiar sweetness of 'White Christmas' and oatmeal cookies lingering in the air, Axel was squeezed Ari's hand and smiled down at her.

Maybe Christmas wasn't so bad after all.

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**A/N: **Well then. Wasn't that just the most saccharine thing I've ever written! I actually wrote this for my real-life friend SetoSora77. She enjoyed it greatly, saying that I should post it. So, here you are. Please Read, Review, and Enjoy! And a belated Happy Christmas to you all.

_C.D.M._


End file.
